Cyril Stahl’s Post

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming governments and public sectors worldwide, and tech companies are racing to develop the most advanced government AI systems at speed, scale, and capabilities that governments cannot keep up with. Over the past year, France/Paris-based Mistral AI has rapidly risen as a homegrown European AI champion. In June 2024, Mistral said it had raised $645 million in a funding round backed by venture capitalists like General Catalyst that reportedly values the company at more than $6 billion. Thanks, William El Sayed, for visiting GovTech Campus Deutschland to discuss the future of the French/German AI ecosystem, the future development of #governmentAI platforms, and the innovation capacity of the emerging #GovTech ecosystem for European governments. In turn, it was great to introduce the rapidly growing ecosystem of the GovTech Campus, which is the leading organized, dedicated govtech-ecosystem in the world with over 120 national and international members and partners. It was great having you and we're looking forward to the next conversation and building a strong, entrepreneurial government AI ecosystem. Lars Zimmermann David Steinacker Startup-Verband KI Bundesverband Global Government Technology Centre

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆’𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝗜? It looks like the answer is YES! The BIGGEST hope for European AI is coming out of France and is called Mistral AI. Yesterday, the Paris-based start-up secured another €600M in Series B funding. Let's break down this game-changing news: ⬇️ → Mistral AI has raised €600 million in new funding, tripling its valuation since December to almost €6 billion. → The funding round was led by General Catalyst and included other investors such as IBM, Andreessen Horowitz, BNP Paribas, Nvidia, and Salesforce. Microsoft did not invest again (they were part of the first round). → The company is led by co-founders Guillaume Lample, Arthur Mensch, and Timothée Lacroix, who remain majority shareholders. These French AI researchers bring experience from their previous work at Google’s DeepMind and Meta. → Mistral AI employs ONLY 60 staff members across France, the US, and the UK, with a strong focus on product development and research. → Mistral AI's systems are available as open-source/weights software, which means their source code can be examined or customized by anyone. The goal is to attract especially European corporate customers who value data autonomy and the ability to tailor solutions to their needs. → Mistral AI was just founded 10 months ago and they raised €105M with no product and only five employees, with a 6-page Word document (Memo). I attached the Memo, which si a MUST-READ for everybody interested in European GenAI. → Their pitch memo focused on two main selling points: 1) that Europe has “yet to see the appearance of a serious contender” in building foundational models, and that Mistral will play a big role in this “major geopolitical issue”, and 2) embracing an open-source approach (unlike OpenAI's “black box” system) will make it easier for companies to build “better, faster” products. Let's go Europe! 🇪🇺 #AI #TechInnovation #MistralAI #OpenSource #TechIndustry

Europe's AI game: stronger than you think. While headlines often portray Europe as lagging behind the US in tech, the reality is that Europe is not far behind the US and China in AI VC funding. Let's look at some key players: 🇬🇧 UK: London remains a powerhouse, with Google DeepMind leading the charge. 🇫🇷 France: Paris is becoming an AI hub, boosted by government initiatives. 🇩🇪 Germany: Berlin and Munich are building strong AI ecosystems. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Amsterdam is punching above its weight in AI research and startups. 🇨🇭 Switzerland: Zürich and Lausanne with support from major companies and universities (ETH Zürich, EPFL Lausanne). Other countries active in AI: Norway, Croatia, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, and Sweden. Among Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, only Poland makes it to the end of the list. The Czech Rep. is not in the top 15 based on AI VC funding for 2024. What's your take on Europe's AI landscape? Which other countries or cities would you add to this list? #ArtificialIntelligence #EuropeanTech #AIInvestment #InnovationHubs Sources: Dealroom.co, Roosh

💥 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀! 𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀! 💥 With a lack of unicorns in our ecosystem, it's time to make a change! Techleap embarked on a research journey to explore the conditions needed to build successful AI companies in the Netherlands. Why? Because: 1. 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, especially in anticipation of compliance with the upcoming EU AI Act 2. The Dutch 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 to foster a competitive edge in the global market 3. We 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 in the AI landscape to steer the Dutch ecosystem to enable Dutch founders to become unicorns 💥 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂? You get the chance to be selected to the exclusive AI community that we are building incl. the top level AI decision makers in the Netherlands Click on the link to fill out the survey and be a part of this exciting journey https://lnkd.in/eYK5g6bZ hashtag #AIFounders #Innovatie #Startups #Talent Maxime Lübbers

👋 Chief AI Officer Summit in Berlin - see you tomorrow? -- I'm back in Berlin and excited to attend tomorrow's Chief AI Officer Summit! Although I love connecting people and ideas, I haven't attended events lately and look forward to this curated gathering with a solid mix of startups and more mature organizations. I have mixed feelings about how fast AI in Germany can develop (e.g. local leader Aleph Alpha just quit the LLM race as announced a few days ago - link in comment) yet discussion topics seem spot on. I'll keep my ears wide open when it comes to specific use cases and metrics, with a focus on 'good-enough' artificial intelligence (beyond only GenAI, although I'm guessing it will be a major topic). Thanks again for the invitation! #AI #GenAI #usecases #lowtech #efficienttech #EuropeanTech

📢 - We are excited to announce that we made it into our first international company media Sifted     🌍 - Sifted is the leading media brand for the European start-up community. Their team of dedicated journalists extends across the continent, being the critical friend of Europe’s start-up community. They want to intensify and encourage the start-ups founders, operators, and investors to lead the innovation charge from the front.    🚀 - Our company has been mentioned by Andreas Riegler of Apex (Ion Hauer, Wolfgang Neubert) as one of eleven start-ups to watch, revolutionizing the field of AI. It is our goal to lead the change in revolutionizing the AI landscape by pioneering the development of cutting-edge AI chips uniquely tailored for edge training and inference applications. Unlike traditional methods that heavily rely on vast computing resources and centralized data processing, we're taking a bold new approach. 🧠 - Inspired by the remarkable processing capabilities of the human brain, we're crafting fully analog hardware to pave the way for a new era of AI innovation.  #Gemesys #Apex #KI #EdgeComputing #Innovation #sifted https://lnkd.in/eDzgR5ad

[MEET THE PARTNERS] As we continue our Meet the Partners campaign, we’re excited to introduce another key group driving the DeployAI EU project: European AI Associations & Networks! 🚀 These organizations play a key role in connecting people and ideas. They bring together researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, and communities to collaborate and share knowledge. Their work helps ensure that AI innovation doesn’t stay in labs - it makes a real difference across Europe. 🇩🇪 KI Bundesverband 🇭🇷 CroAI (Croatian AI Association) 🇪🇺 EIT Digital 🇸🇪 AI Sweden 🇫🇷 Hub France IA 🇪🇺 F6S 🇩🇪 VDE 🇪🇺 Adra - AI-Data-Robotics-Association (Associated Partner) By building bridges between research, industry, and society, these partners are shaping how AI is developed and used, making sure it’s accessible, impactful, and beneficial for everyone! 🤝 Stay informed on the latest developments and milestones—subscribe to our newsletter and be part of the journey! 🗞️ https://t.ly/Ai0eC #DeployAI #MeetThePartners #Network #Europe #AI

As we approach the next Framework Programme, it's time for Europe to take the lead in the #tech arena and harness its own creativity, rather than playing catch-up with US big tech giants. In this article, Afonso Ferreira, Research Director at Centre national de la recherche scientifique, highlights the need for FP10 to fund #AI initiatives for peace, ageing and ultimately European leadership. 🔎 https://shorturl.at/fv356 #HealthTech #PeaceTech #ConflictResolution #Tech4Good #socialimpact

🚀 Exciting times for AI innovation in the European Union! The first 7 proposals to establish AI factories have been submitted, aiming to develop advanced AI models and new AI solutions within the EU. 🧠💡 This initiative marks a significant step forward for the European ecosystem, offering researchers, startups, and industry players a unique opportunity to access world-class resources with EU support. #AIinEurope #AIAct #DigitalEU

Wonderful to see steps to increase #AI capacity at the European level. Efficient #AI and #HPC infrastructure is a key enabler to stay competitive and allow European innovation to thrive. It is sad though to see a Swiss-shaped hole in this endeavor. It is imperative to reestablish Swiss-#EU cooperation in research and innovation!! #strongertogether #AIinnovation CAIRNE swissuniversities Euresearch European Commission Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences SATW